It is normal practice to use two or more locomotive units as part of a "consist" to haul a train. When mulitiple locomotives are used in a consist it is highly desirable that they be electrically interconnected to function properly, so that control circuitry is provided from one locomotive unit, usually the lead unit, through to all other units of the consist so that any electrical action initiated by the controls of the one unit will cause a corresponding reaction in the other units of the consist, thus insuring that all units in the consist perform the same functions at the same time. It is established construction and practice that each locomotive unit is originally provided with an electrical receptacle having multiple pronged terminal contacts, and an elongated jumper cable with headed ends is provided for bridging the space between each pair of locomotive units and for electrically interconnecting the units through the terminal prongs provided in the receptacles.
If, however, a jumper cable is not available, or has been lost or mislaid, and while the units may still be coupled together mechanically through couplers, in order to properly use the consist extra crews may be required to operate the additional units of the consist that are not electrically coupled to the lead unit. It will be readily apparent that unavailability of jumper cables, when needed, results in considerable additional expense of added crew time.
Accordingly, the object of this invention is to modify the existing electrical receptable construction of a locomotive unit and to also provide a permanently mounted jumper cable for locomotive units so that the locomotive units of the consist may be alternatively used either in the same manner as in the past, or by use of the permanently mounted jumper cable that is provided, so that each locomotive unit always has available the capacity to be part of a multiple-unit locomotive consist.
Another object of this invention is to provide, by a simple and relatively inexpensive modification, a permanently mounted jumper cable for a locomotive unit.
These and other objects will become apparent from the following description of the accompanying drawings showing a preferred embodiment of the invention, and by reference to the appended claims.